05 May 2011 | 1 comment |
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Personal security (part 3): The kingdom promised
02 May 2011 | 23 comments |
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Genesis 1:1-2:3 is not poetry and it is historical
I suspect the title has already polarized you—or if not that, it has at least evoked something of a gut response for you. The issues of creation and science tend to do that for people! But please let me set the context of this discussion: this is not a discussion about science and creation.
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28 April 2011 | 5 comments |
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Personal security (part 2): The kingdom pattern established and the fall
25 April 2011 | 14 comments |
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Death in Romans
Did you know that his Letter to the Romans contains about half of all Paul’s references to death and dying?
For various reasons—mainly being committed to a team pulpit ministry—I didn't preach this Easter weekend. Or rather, my Easter sermon was delivered last Wednesday at our monthly mid-week friendship service to 21 precious frail-aged seniors (the oldest was 101 years old) and their helpers (all women!).
And so, apart from another important preaching task (helping prepare a kids’ talk for Good Friday), I’ve had a little more time than usual in the run up to Easter to ponder.
14 Comments »
21 April 2011 | 2 comments |
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Personal security (part 1): Introduction
There were 828 homicides in our city in 2010, an increase of 210% from 2009. There were 15,493 cars stolen, many of which were taken at gunpoint, and 323 kidnapping events (often involving more than one captive)—all increases on the 2009 levels. In a city of 4.5 million, that's a lot of violent crime—and so far, 2011 is breaking all the records.
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18 April 2011 | 2 comments |
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What kind of nonsense?
At the core of the Christian gospel lies some abject nonsense. But the real question is: what kind of nonsense is it?
The Christian message is not a matter of opinion (although it certainly has a bearing upon your opinions), nor is it a world view or a philosophy of life (although it certainly brings radical changes to your way of seeing the world and living life). Instead, it is the declaration of certain events that took place in human history; events that reveal God's purposes for his world, and to which certain promises from God are attached.
2 Comments »
15 April 2011 | 4 comments |
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Good Friday and good-ianity
This Easter you and I will come into contact with equinox Christians. That is, Christians who attend church twice a year: Chrissie and Easter.
It's hard to communicate to these people the mind-blowing great exchange that is the gospel of Jesus Christ, isn't it?
4 Comments »
11 April 2011 | 10 comments |
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Encouraging leaders to step up
A young man doing MTS recently emailed me to ask this question:
I've just read your blogs and review of Leadership on the Front Foot and I had a question. As your review stated, it seems to be a book aimed at new ministers of the gospel. So, having not read the book, I don't think it seems to be a good book to get information on encouraging young men (university age) to step up and lead. Here lies my question: is my assessment a fair one and, if it is, can you recommend a book that would could be useful in the situation I've outlined?
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29 March 2011 | 15 comments |
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Four reasons not to worry about the ethics classes
What do we do when a law we've benefited from changes? Perhaps it's time to brush ourselves off and get back to the work of the gospel.
15 Comments »
24 March 2011 | 8 comments |
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Lies, lies, lies!
I was talking to a friend lately who struggles with eating issues, and she told me that one of the techniques she is using to combat her anxiety is something called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). If I've understood her correctly, ACT is when you try to keep your thoughts focused on the present instead of allowing them to drift off in all sorts of unhelpful directions. So, for example, when she gets a craving for a cookie and starts to think that she couldn't possibly get through the afternoon without one, she acknowledges that she's had that thought, points out to herself that what her brain is telling her is a lie (i.e. that she can get through the afternoon without a cookie, and she knows that because she's done it before), and then moves on with the rest of her day.
